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Friday, April 13, 2012

Roasted Asparagus Recipe with Creamy Tahini-Peanut Dipping Sauce

Delicious roasted asparagus with a tahini-peanut dipping sauce.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites. I love the tahini-peanut dipping sauce here and think it goes perfectly with roasted asparagus!)

Don't you think there's something special about asparagus when it finally comes into season in the spring? Before I started blogging I wasn't nearly so much of an asparagus fan as I am now. A lot of my asparagus apathy was because I'd mostly eaten asparagus cooked in water, a method which can simmer out a lot of the flavor. When I fully entered the ranks of the food-obsessed and started reading lots of blogs I learned about roasted asparagus, grilled asparagus, and sauteed asparagus. Since then I've been on a yearly spring quest to find as many new asparagus recipes as I can. This roasted asparagus with tahini-Peanut dipping sauce was a fantastic success. The sauce was slightly adapted from Chicken and Quickly Roasted Asparagus with Tahini Sauce, but the added peanut butter produced a thicker sauce and I subbed agave nectar for sugar or splenda. This is a recipe I can't wait to make for guests.

Asparagus is a perennial, nearly leafless member of the lily family, and it's one of the world's healthiest foods, containing large amounts of vitamin K, folate, vitamin C, and vitamin A. Asparagus also contains inulin, a non-digestible carbohydrate that's beneficial to the friendly bacteria in your digestive system. Besides the many health benefits, asparagus is low in calories and fat and mildly diuretic, so it's great for any type of diet. Growing asparagus in a home garden does require patience, since establishing an asparagus bed takes several years, but once it's started, a bed can produce asparagus for as long as 20-30 years. Of course with all this asparagus information you've guessed that this is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging #124, hosted this week by Kel of Green Olive Tree. (When I see the list of cities where she's lived, I'm very envious!) Here are the rules for Weekend Herb Blogging and where to send your entry if you'd like to share about an herb, plant, veggie, or flower this week. Now keep reading for this recipe and more asparagus love from other blogs.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Lightly spray a roasting pan with olive oil or non-stick spray. Be sure asparagus is washed, then cut off the lower woody ends (usually only a few inches, snap one to see.) Cut asparagus into diagonal-sliced pieces about 2 inches long.

Put asparagus in plastic bowl and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange in single layer on baking sheet and roast, turning once or twice, until asparagus is starting to slightly shrivel and brown and is still a little crisp in the center, about 15 minutes.

While asparagus roasts, combine tahini, warm water, lemon juice, agave nectar, garlic, soy sauce, and peanut butter in food processor, blender, or bowl attachment of an immersion blender. (If you use an immersion blender or blender, hold the lid down very tightly! I learned this the hard way.) Blend until ingredients are well combined.

Serve asparagus hot with sauce on the side for each person to dip asparagus into. Sauce can also be spooned over asparagus, but I loved dipping it, especially since this is a rich sauce.

Variations: I think this sauce would taste fantastic on roasted broccoli, cauliflower, or green beans too.

Made with agave nectar and natural peanut butter, this is a great dish for phase two or three of the South Beach Diet. (Use Splenda or Stevia-in-the-Raw for a phase one version.) The sauce is relatively high in fat, but sesame seeds and peanuts contain "good fat."

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40 comments:

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables. I can't wait for the local asparagus. It will be a while though as we are still buried in snow. A tahini and peanut butter dipping sauce it an amazing idea!! Bookmarked

We're still almost two months away from local asparagus here in RI. There are several large asparagus farms within an hour of my house, and one of the joys of spring is going to the farm, where the asparagus are sorted into 5 sizes, and you can buy the exact size you want, from spears that were picked that same morning. The tahini sauce will be wonderful-- I'll save the recipe.

Oh you are so right about asparagus. The life cycle of an asparagus plant & field is really fascinating. And that by covering the asparagus they get white asparagus! That one surprised me.My dad still buys in in a can and thinks it's good. I'm sure that's where I got the idea it was terrible.We just had our first bunch this year two nights ago!

Oh, Kalyn, I cannot wait for the asparagus season begin here! I was so excited to discover local, Estonian asparagus last year, and ate it as much as possible. And this year I'll be eating even more :) Thank you for another great recipe (and link love:)

Rosted asparagus is always welcome in my kitchen, Kalyn, and your tahini sauce sounds amazing. I recently roasted some asparagus myself to go along with some roast chicken and roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary. But don't discount cooking asparagus in water either. The key is to not overcook it. Get a little bit of water boiling in a pan--half an inch or less in depth. Add the asparagus once the water is boiling, salt it generously and cover the pan. Let it steam until just crisp tender, about five minutes, then place in a serving dish or on individual plates and serve immediately. It will be delicious and not all limp and cooked to death.

Tasahmort, tahini can be hard to find, but if you have a Whole Foods or Trader Joe's where you live you can find it there. However, sounds like it turned out okay without it. You could increase the peanut butter, for a slightly different type of sauce. Glad to hear you're becoming an asparagus convert.

Just made this and loved it! I changed the recipe a bit and reduced the peanut butter & it still turned out great. I tossed the sauce with the asparagus & ate it for lunch, finishing off the entire pound of asparagus myself...I just couldn't help myself!

For those of you who have a hard time finding Tahini, I found the local Indian store had a ton of varieties for a (what I thought) a very good price. Good luck!

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